Nina Allender Cartoons
Nina Evans Allender (1872-1957) was a longtime member of the National Woman's Party who studied art at the Corcoran School of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and with Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase, and impressionist Frank Brangwyn. She contributed over 250 cartoons to the suffrage campaign, mostly original drawings created for The Suffragist, the weekly publication of the National Woman's Party.
Nina Evans Allender working on a cartoon for publication in "The Suffragist," the weekly newspaper of the National Woman's Party, 1918
The National Woman's Party (NWP) was the only suffrage organization to boast an "official cartoonist." Returning to Washington around 1910, Nina Allender became actively involved in the suffrage movement, serving as president of the DC branch of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and of the Stanton Club, a local suffrage organization in the District. In 1914, Alice Paul, the founder of the NWP, persuaded Allender to draw cartoons for The Suffragist. Her political cartoons appeared regularly in The Suffragist (and its successor Equal Rights) into the 1920s.
Other cartoonists' works also appeared on the covers of The Suffragist, but Allender's were unique. She was one of the principal cartoonists who helped change the traditional image of the suffragist as unattractive, selfish, and rowdy. She created a suffragist image (soon called the "Allender Girl"), who was young, slender, and energetic—a capable woman with an intense commitment to the cause. Allender used her illustrations to present a spectrum of women: feminist, wife, mother, student, and activist. Moreover, Allender drew some of her most controversial cartoons just as the United States was entering World War I. Members of the National Woman's Party were ostracized for picketing the White House while the soldiers were dying for democracy abroad. Allender stood with them and supported them in her art.
Nina Evans Allender surrounded by the cartoons she drew during the suffrage campaign, circa 1921
Today she is considered one of the most influential political artists of the era, capturing the spirited struggle for women's rights as it happened and providing a unique window into this intense chapter in women's history. In the 2004 election, more voters went to the polls than ever before in history, and 54% of these voters were women. Nina Allender's work allows us to retrace the strategies used to first open the political arena to women. She brings to life a bygone era that is essential to understanding the participation of women in one of the most important civil rights movements in our history.
Don't miss your chance to help save a piece of the NWP collections by participating in the "Adopt-an-Allender" campaign. By adopting a cartoon, you underwrite the cost of conserving the cartoon to keep alive these images not only for this exhibit, but for future generations to view.